Jan 5

First decide what you really want to do. What would make work worth working at and life worth living. Then figure out how to do it.

Most people look to what they know they CAN do as a guide to what they WILL do; I think to get anything important done in the world, you have to look towards what you WANT to do, and then figure out how to do it.

When most people think about what they are committed to, they consider where they can build a bridge to from where they already are. What would happen if you chose where you wanted to go without considering your current circumstances and then worried about how to build that bridge?

There is nothing wrong with being reasonable, except that “what is reasonable” is a poor guide to action when designing actions to push the future. Being reasonable will help you feel safe in the sense of knowing that your actions will turn out pretty much the way you expect them to. But it is dangerous in that same sense of producing predictable results; what is predictable has, by definition, been done before. And what has been done before is unlikely to make much of a difference in the future.

Paul Lemberg

Seven ways to be unreasonable.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adopt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.” – Rita Mae Brown

“So what else is new?” – Paul Lemberg

Being reasonable

My dictionary defines being reasonable as being rational. Rational, it says, means being reasonable. A vicious circle: I know I’m in trouble already. Going further, reasonable also means being governed by reason; which in turn means explanations, justifications, underlying facts, good judgment, normalcy, plus the capacity for logic and analytic thought. Further, being reasonable means being within the bounds of common sense, as in arriving home at a reasonable hour, and lastly it means not excessive or extreme.
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Jan 2

You want to meet the Rich Jerk!

Ha – don’t make me laugh. What do you think the chances are of ever getting to meet this 26-year old brat who has more money than you’ve had hot dinners?

Oh, you want to BE a Rich Jerk?

Well, that’s a completely different story! I’m going to tell you why.

A few days ago, I heard about this fellow who had sold a web site and business on eBay for a fabulous sum of money. More than that, he is still running extremely successful online businesses, which are adding to his considerable wealth, every minute of the day. Now, if like me, you’ve built the web sites, made sure that the search engines find them – and then still only make a modest living online, there’s surely something to learn from this guy’s approach. So, I bought the eBook that he wrote and, although it’s only a small book, it has some great advice.

The topics covered in the eBook include

· Which are the best affiliate companies to join
· Tips on writing a sales letter for your product or website
· Pay-per-click search engine strategies
· How to improve your search engine results
· Selling on eBay – some really interesting stuff here
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Nov 27

Every year millions of people answer “Yes” to that question and every year that answer costs many of them money, time, confidence, and heartbreak. The Small Business Administration estimates there are 580,900 new small businesses opening each year and that number does not include the small one-person entrepreneurships that pop up every day. However even if you are your business’s sole employee then there is still something to be learned from the SBA’s numbers.

According to the SBA, two-thirds of new businesses survive at least two years and 44 percent survive at least four years. Two of the key factors in the businesses survival and ability to thrive: the owner’s education level and the owner’s reason for starting the firm in the first place.

How can you make sure that you are among the winners rather than the losers in this high stakes game? The answer is inside of you. You must ask yourself four key questions to determine whether your own small business will survive and thrive.

1. Are You Ready

Have you mentally prepared yourself for the switch from employee (or student or whatever label fits you currently) to boss. You are going to be the one making decisions now about everything from office products to product line. This total control is one of the driving forces behind many people who take the plunge into starting their ownbusiness but it is also one of the elements that drives new entreprenurs crazy. When you start out there is an endless list of decisions that need to be made and new questions crop up every day.

Even more important you will need to remember that in a small business you will wear many hats. Even if you manage to start out with one or more employees you will each fulfill more than one role in your new business. And if you are running a one-man or one-woman show then you serve in every capacity from file clerk to maintenance crew to salesman to CEO. Can you handle switching from task to task and role to role like that? Are you willing to make those switches?

Similarly, have you prepared your family and friends for this switch in attitude. Your life is going to change — probably pretty drastically — and that change can have a positive or negative impact on your family life and social interactions. It will make things much easier if your friends and family are supportive going into the process.
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Aug 17

It’s a oversize instance to hold office an entrepreneur—in the last decade, technology has even the playing field and propelled an entrepreneurial revolution. In that an entrepreneur, you soon retain besides access to poop that enables you to manufacture amassed ingenious choices massed swiftly. You hold an advantage over capacious businesses weight that you’re lighter, new flexible, and faster on your feet. You encumbrance target untrodden markets greater briskly, and you rap turn on a dime.

But being a rewarding entrepreneur requires that you contemplation at the crowded picture and come next a contrivance concluded from inception to point. Rieva Lesonsky, editor – prestige – chief of Entrepreneur Magazine gives some practical guidelines that obligatoriness comfort you when commencement your own enterprise:

1. Don’t Drop Your Month Assignment.
Consider beginning your business part – bit, especially if it’s online, while you’re working and have a steady income. It usually takes six months to a year to get a business going and you don’t want your ability to make your house payment to hinge upon your company being an overnight success. Start with what you can manage, financially and time – wise, and scale up as your business grows.

2. Find Your Niche.
The days of general stores are over. Particularly online, consumers are looking for stores that specialize. You have to find a need—something a specific group of people want, but can’t get at the big chain stores—and fill it. Advises Lesonsky, “You can’t compete with the big guys, so you have to find where the big guys aren’t and go into your niches. ”
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